GeologyRocks

Gold, yes. Diamond, no. There are no kimberlite pipes in the UK (as far as I know!) which is where diamonds originate.

Gold can be found, but it is extremely rare. There have been gold mines in the UK:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-dolaucothigoldmines/
Try panning around this area - you never know!

Jon

Forgot about diamond recognition:

Easiest way is to try and scratch it with some Corundum (hardness 9). If it scratches it ain't diamond. If it doesn't....

Jon

Don't forget that diamonds can also be found in lamprophyre/lamproite rocks. The only potential areas for diamond is the Lewisian terrane of north-west scotland, the southwest lamprophyres of Cornwall, and the Southern Upland terrane in Scotland - see BGS MRP Report 135 for more details:

Abstract:

135 The potential for diamonds in Britain
R C Leake and others (1995)

This report reviews existing geological and geophysical data for Britain in the light of current models for diamond formation and deposit signatures.

Most diamonds at the Earth's surface are the product of two unusual processes, the lowering of the geothermal gradient deep in the mantle, which allows the diamond stability field to be entered, and the formation of a magma at or below these depths within which diamond-bearing xenoliths can be transported rapidly to the surface. As most diamonds seem to have formed in sub-cratonic roots during the early history of the Earth, the Lewisian terrane of north-west Scotland is the most favourable environment in Britain. No kimberlites are known in this terrane, but exposure is very poor over most of the Hebrides and, although existing aeromagnetic data are widely spaced, several interesting features are identified in the Highlands. The Proterozoic Torridonian rocks of north-west Scotland represent the most likely location of a palaeoplacer in Britain.

Recent thinking suggests that diamond could also crystallise in a cold subducted slab, where it causes a depression of the geothermal gradient. Such a slab may have been left behind after subduction in the Southern Uplands of Scotland at the end of the Silurian, forming a transient source of diamonds which may have been tapped by lamprophyres, alkali basalts and nephelinites. A subducted slab could also have been stagnant beneath south-west England and tapped by the Permian lamprophyric and lamproitic intrusions or alkaline lavas.

Further work is recommended, particularly in south-west England and north-west Scotland to determine whether potentially favourable intrusions and palaeoplacers are diamondiferous.

I didn't know you could get diamonds in lamprophyre/lamprolites...you learn something everyday!

There you go, Elliot, diamonds and gold in the UK!

Jon

Cornwall, here I come.........

That's because you're a geophysicist

The best places to go looking for gold in the UK are Cornwall (vein hosted), Scotland (sediment hosted?) and Wales - not sure of the host material.

It is possible to find diamonds, though the likely hood of this is extreemely low.

Welsh gold is in Cambrian slates and is vein hosted. The Cornish gold was largely found in stream workings (the tin streamers used to fill quills with it) and diamonds have been found in the River Dee near Aberdeen, up to the size of a match head and black (bort). And the best new discovery of gold is in the Crediton Trough, devon, so go there folks.

Gus

During the Australian gold rush, a crofter in Helmsdale, NE Scotland sold everything he had to raise the money to join the rush. Like many others he found nothing and ended up working in a mundane job.
It took him many years to save enough money to get the fare back to Scotland.
As an old man, he came out of the pub one evening and leaning on the bridge reflected on his life. He happened to glance down and saw in the river a glint - gold! On his own doorstep.

Well, thats the ledgend, but anyone who can look into the river waters at Helmsdale must have pretty good eyesight. By the time it gets there it is full of silt.
To find gold you need to go inland by about 12 miles - that's a long walk for any pub.

But the truth is that there is gold there, and quite a bit of it. No one has ever found the motherlode, and all the tributaries run in off boggy heathland. Its said that if you are prepared to stand up to your waist in icy burn water you could pull out £500 worth a week.
At one time a prospecting licence would cost you 1/- ( one Shilling = 5p in todays money for you kids!!!!! or 2.753 groats, Gus)
Apparently the Chancellor tried to muscle in and get VAT on that. However the Laird ( who the 1/- was payable to) was a very rich man. So rich that he gave a well know British salute ( the one used by English longbow men to our dear French cousins, to show that they still had the required number of fingers to draw a bow) to the Customs & Excise and said he would charge nothing. Nowadays (or at least 10 years ago) you simple go into the office in Helmsdale and sign a book - and head for the hills.
We went about 12 miles up river. The streams there are clear (and bloody cold!). In the two hours we had, I got 5 flakes of gold. A friend of mine who had prospected extensively in Zimbabwe had lent me a gold pan and shown me the wrist action (very important and quite difficult to master) using sediments, gravel and galena in his back garden in Bath), and told me exactly where to look - so I was the 'expert' of the group. When I showed him what I'd got, he felt that it was entirely possible to pull the £500 worth out in a week with the right equipment, if I (as a rank amatuer) could get that amount in a couple of hours.
I have to say when I saw that first glint at the end of the tail in the pan my stomach flipped! A real thrill.
Perhaps one day I'll go back with more equipment.

It is alleged that a diamond was found in the Highlands in about 1850, although none have been found since.
At one time Cambridge Mineral Resources were looking for a number of different minerals - including diamonds in the Dalradian Super Group both in the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
I shall have to see if they have any news on their web site.

I think the Crediton gold was a false alarm Gus.
An Irish prospecting company called Mimet were digging there, and they haven't reported any great finds.
There is a good location near Tiverton apparently, but I understand that the old lady who owns the land patrols it with a shotgun. She's still got the gold!!!!
Hopes Nose in Devon is another source. There was a lovely specimen found. Dendritic, and in calcite, which has been disolved away leaving this fern like piece of gold. I believe the Nat Hist Museum have it.

Mimet were also prospecting in Portugal where they claimed to have found a 'reef', but the Portuguese government stopped them on environmental grounds. They also had prospecting rights for an area of Brazil the size of Wales, and the gold was suppose to be on bedrock at 250' making it very cheap to extract. They seem to be out of there as well, or at least there is no news.
They also claimed that they were developing a more environmental friendly way of separating. Currently it is done with mercury or cyanide!!!!.
I bought 1000 shares way back when they were 7p. They rose to 30p. -should have sold! They are now at 1.5p. No point in selling now. I can only hope they will rise again, but they may just disappear.

Hope's Nose is a no-go area now for collecting specimens ever since some hooligans took pneumatic drills to it a few years ago. SSSI too. Tut-tut.

I saw a recent report by the Geological Survey which said that gold deposits had been proved at Crediton but as yet they weren't considered viable for exploitation.

And hello John, haven't heard from you for a while.

Gus

'Fraid the Crediton trough is most probably a dead duck - no chance of anything really happening down there... However, interesting results coming out of base metal exploration by Alba Resources in Aberdeenshire - and Inco are now interested...

Haven't posted in a while as been away - Colorado, Utah and Cyprus (again!)

Aw shuddup Simon. You're just trying to make us all jealous with your glob-trotting - and succeeding!!!

This is to dispute the lamprophyre guy...true, they can be diamondiferous, but only where they intrude stable Archean craton - like the Slave Province in the NWT Canada...

Not true! - Yes kimberlites are restricted to Archaean cratons, but lamproites are restricted to proterozoic mobile belts adjacent to cratonic regions - according to Clifford's Rule...

This doesn't mean that the kimberlites/lamproites are of the same age - indeed kimberlites have been emplaced up till the Cainozoic, ~55 million years ago..

ive been digging gold 18 years now there is good amounts in wales and scotland in the ordovician/silurian scotland in the dalradian of mid scotland and also in the andesite and basalt lavas in the ochill hills

diamonds in scotland

 hi to all , im new to this forum , ive been trawling this forum for some time now , mostly about gold , i live on the river clyde and i know theres gold in them hills lol , and the hills around loch doon ayrshire

i was reading throu a book the other day from 1866 and it had a referance to diamonds

as i understand the way diamonds are formed , they are formed in vents from volcanic activity , the reference from the book sounds to me like volcanic vents that have been natuarly eroaded by the sea

ive have included the description from the book and would like some advice , as to where its worth tracking the place down from the book and look for diamonds or sighs of diamonds , as it tells your roughly where it is and how to find it in the book  ,

" general mass of these stupendous rocks consists of dark red
sandstone, lying horizontally ; but for a considerable space
wbcre highest, the sandstone, about midway up, is surmounted
by a beautiful brown porphry. This portion, dividing itself
into three distinct and deeply separated cliffs of equal height
and uniform appearance, has immemorially obtained the
poetical cognomen of the Three Sisters, otherwise three Jeans,
perhaps N'uns? And truly it were not difficult, in their
stately and solemn austerity, to conceive a fanciful resemblance
to the veiled sisterhood. According to tradition, diamonds
were contained in this part of the precipice "

That sounds like an extract from The Hidden Landscape by Richard Fortney.  Very descriptive prose making it easy reading for the non geologist, but because of that, making it all sound too easy as well. 

In his opening chapter he describes getting off a train in a small village in the middle of Wales (come on - a train in a small village in Wales???  Must have been written pre Beeching) walking from the station down a country lane, picking up a rock, giving it a clout and out pops an Ordovician trilobite.  Perhaps some people are really that lucky, or perhaps that is why he is keeper of  palaeontology at the Natural History Museum. 

Nevertheless a good book.

John

“Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” -  Will Durant

That sounds like an extract from The Hidden Landscape by Richard Fortney.  Very descriptive prose making it easy reading for the non geologist, but because of that, making it all sound too easy as well. 

In his opening chapter he describes getting off a train in a small village in the middle of Wales (come on - a train in a small village in Wales???  Must have been written pre Beeching) walking from the station down a country lane, picking up a rock, giving it a clout and out pops an Ordovician trilobite.  Perhaps some people are really that lucky, or perhaps that is why he is keeper of  palaeontology at the Natural History Museum. 

Nevertheless a good book.

John

“Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” -  Will Durant

thank you for the reply john , no its not from that book or in wales ,but i will have a look for it thanks. its not far from the small village of portincross ( knights templer village ) on the clyde coast western scotland ( no trains like wales lol )

i found the reference in a book about the history of ayrshire and surrounding area when i was looking for information on the history off loch doon castle , ayrshire .

the book is the history of the counties of ayr and wigton volume 3 page 303 the parish of kilbride , by james paterson

the area is full of interesting geology and interesting rock formations with , pyrite , quartz out crops , some with pyrite ,rusty quartz , felsite , copper and loads of other minerals , im not a geologist but im interested in minerals and rock formations , while panning for gold around loch doon and lead hills , and clyde valley

Diamonds are heavy and have a greasy appearance. If you touch one to your lip, it will feel cold because of the excellent thermal conductivity. That is why diamonds are sometimes called "ice". Diamonds have an affinity for grease and will stick to it. Garnets, olivine, diopsides and such are good indicators that diamonds are in the area.

It may have already been posted that asteroid impacts can also cause the formation of kimberlite pipes containing diamonds.